Animal rights zealots gone wild again
Last week, they were bugging Japanese whaling ships. Now, they’re throwing bags of acid at them. “Nonviolently,” of course.
Anti-whaling protesters hurled containers of butyric acid at a Japanese whaling ship in Antarctic waters, injuring four crew members, a Japanese official said Monday.
art.antiwhaling.jpgActivists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society hurl objects on to the Japanese ship Nisshin Maru.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society acknowledged the Sunday incident, saying it had lobbed more than two dozen bottles of rotten butter at the Nisshin Maru, “sending a stench throughout the whale killing ship that will remain for days.”
Butyric acid is found in rotten butter.
The Sea Shepherd boat had to move a half-mile away from the whaling ship because “it stinks too bad to remain any closer,” activist Todd Emko of New York said in a statement from the group. Video Watch protesters toss objects at the ship »
The conservation group said it also threw packets of a slippery chemical on to the deck of the ship, making it difficult to cut up whales.
The unnamed substance becomes more slippery when mixed with water so it will be difficult to wash off the deck, a Sea Shepherd statement said.
“I guess we can call this nonviolent chemical warfare,” said Capt. Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd boat, the Steve Irwin. “We only use organic, nontoxic materials designed to harass and obstruct … whaling operations.”
Only a matter of time before someone gets hurt. Where are the voices of restraint and civility when it comes to eco-thuggery?
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Categories: Animal rights wackos
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Now shooting them can be considered self defense
Now they’re classified as “conservation” groups?
How about telling it like it really is…radical loons like the ALF?
I like to think its only a matter of time before the Japanese decide they no longer want to tolerate this nonsense.
I would pay to see the Japanese respond in kind. CS Gas comes to mind.
I think I like the CS gas response.
Being non-lethal, I wonder if the Japanese crews can get permission to carry it themselves…
just ram the dang dingy
What the Japanese need are radar jamming, communication jamming equipment on board. Fire it up and when the Sea Shepherd loses all communication…..sink it.
The whaling ships should be accompanied by units of the JMSDF. After all, it’s Japanese ships that are being attacked. Maybe something along the lines of a 155-mm “non-lethal” ecologically friendly shot across the bow, or a dummy shell into the fuel bunkers?
What the japanese are doing to whales is wrong. And this is no way to stop it.
adamsite (DM) would do a better job, don’tcha’ think? buggers are already proficient cry-babies… I’d rather see them retching.
Actually, cpodug is 100% correct. This is an attack against a Japanese vessel in international waters, correct?
The Japanese would be responding in a completely reasonable fashion if they used escalating force to drive off the Sea Fairy (or whatever they call it).
What country’s flag does the Sea Sheep fly?
And when some poor sailor falls and gets seriously injured far out at sea, how then is it
Don’t harpoons have explosive heads? Seems only right to defend oneself from attack.
Perhaps the French can give some tips to Japan on dealing with this sort of thing.
The International community used to call such actions “piracy” (illegal violence at sea). But now, these days, when these “pirates” get bored, they come home and run for office. These cowards know those ships don’t carry weapons, being forbidden by law, so they know they can get away with it..with praise from the MSM.
Geez, todays stories are total evidence that its…..
a
From the Sea Monkeys themselves:
http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080302_1.html
Seems both sides have “international law” on their side (which means absolutely nothing).
I still don’t see what flag the wackos are flying.
graysonret: What law forbids them from having weapons? Japanese law?
This may be the time to pay back that “solid” we owe the Japanese.
Seven years ago the USS Greeneville accidentally sank a Japanese fishing vessel, the Ehime Maru off the coast of Hawaii. I say we give the Japanese navy a shot at the Steve Irwin.
It is getting to the point that the Japanese Defense Forces would be justified in firing a warning shot into the bridge of the Steve Irwin, they might get the clue they are not welcome then. Not that I am a fan of whaling, but it is in their culture to hunt whales along with some native peoples that are allowed by various laws of their sovereign nations to hunt them.
#11 Chuck
I agree with you. The Japanese need to aim their harpoons at “something eles”.
#16 TexasTiger
Don’t you know that Steve Irwin must be spinning in his grave at how his image is being used now. He was a conservationist, but he never advocated stuff like they’re doing.
Penn & Teller nail this putz at 2:44 into the video.
Happy viewing!
I’d like to see that whaling vessel dump a whole load of rotting, rancid, foul, whale innards right over the bow of the Sea Sheppard. Those remains are pretty slick too.
Turnabout is fair play….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Steve_Irwin
Thank you wikipedia. Its registered in the Netherlands.
I wonder if the dutch would even care if the Japanese fought back.
Exploding homes in Seattle area, and now throwing acid? Why won’t the media call this TERRORISM? Islamofacists have little on these wackos!
Terrorism by any other name is still terrorism. The Islamofascists do it in the name of their religion(The religion of Peace), and the Ecoterrorists do it in the name of THEIR religion - Mother Earth.
Shoot ‘em!
Seems like these loser never have a job to go to.
Memo to eco-terrorists and anmial rights zealots:
Sit-ins are peaceful. Hunger strikes are peaceful. Writing letters is peaceful.
Lobbing chemicals at the decks of ships is not peaceful.
It is violent and a direct threat to human life.
Why bother when they have Hollywood money and other sources of left wing contributions to support their “cause”?
And again at 1:50 in this video.
I am thinking a solid waste pump with the suction hose in a hold full of whale dung. Pump it from a 4″ hose into a 2 inch nozzle for max distance. Talk about a stink that will not come out.
They’re unwilling to wait 300 years for an alien black cylinder to destroy the Earth.
Maybe they think they’re trying to stop it from wanting to.
I would love to see all the eco-nuts go to war with all the whalers. Then maybe fewer homes would burn and more whales would live.
You mean butchering them? Like cutting it up into smaller pieces for human consumption? Sorta like we do with chickens, cows, goats, sheep, bison, elk, deer, fish, etc.?
Yeah, awful. Just awful. Selling food to people with the expendable capital to purchase it. Those eeevil capitalists.
Zeroangel, I heard, a few weeks ago, on a history channel show (Pirates) that international law forbids weapons on civilian ships…which is why pirates can raid ships, especially in Asian waters. There has been some talk of hiring mercenaries for protecting ships, but that hasn’t gotten anywhere. Maybe the Japanese ships can outfit themselves with that “sound” weapon that worked so well off of Somalia, with that cruise ship. I haven’t done any research on this law. Maybe someone else has an answer.
We have the ’set home fire zealots’ the ‘animal right zealots’ the ‘Berkley hate our military zealots’ the ‘hate America DC dem zealots’ the mulsim ‘whop Christians and Jews heads off zealots’ and our presidential candidates ‘don’t race or religion bate zealots’. Is there ‘anything that could make a person feel good day happening zealot’ happening in the world?
L.
How dare you judge another culture. Don’t you know that all cultures are equal? Non-white cultures are even more equal.
Shame!!!!!!!!!
Or, if some poor guy is unlucky enough to fall over the side, he’s got about 45 seconds until he freezes to death in water that cold. Then it’s called murder.
Imbeciles.
The whaling boats need LRAD:
According to their website, their International Headquarters is in Friday Harbor, Washington.
Since I disagree with their stated policy of terrorism on the high seas, I think I’ll go throw some foul smelling crap in their building. It’s my right, as a champion of freedom of the seas. Surely, a Washington jury would never convict me.
sarc off/
Yeah, that sounded really stupid to me even while I was typing it.
These loons are pressing for a confrontation. I’m wondering how the press will present the facts once someone is killed over all this.
These idiots should be treated the same as those Somali pirates.
On March 3rd, 2008 at 5:06 pm, calamityville said:
I would love to see all the eco-nuts go to war with all the whalers. Then maybe fewer homes would burn and more whales would live.
I am OK with that, yeah that works for me…
Question: graysonret, I assume that means mounted weapons like anti-ship weapons ( or harpoons
) ?? or is the crew also prohibited from being armed??
I ask because it is pretty standard for the owners of “pleasure crafts” to keep a rifle handy…
How will the press present the facts when someone finally gets killed? They’ll undoubtedly trot out Hayden Panettiere to villify the Japanese whalers of course.
BrooklynRed, I believe the rule was “small arms”. Apparently, it’s there because everyone was afraid of “mistaken idenity” etc., like pilot boats, inspections, and such. If these whaling boats want to use harpoons, they have my most enthusiastic support. However, if one of these anarchists/terrorists got hurt, we’d hear about it for days in condemnation. I’m not a fan of whaling, but I believe in a country’s right to protect itself from terrorists, and a ship’s right to defend itself.
Perhaps the japanese whaling fleet could have negotiations with the Yakuza. A greeting party for these “conservationits” when they pull into a port for refuel and supply. Pull a little chinese shanghi on them and set the Irwin afloat.
If these bozos have been close enough to the whalers to throw things on deck I would think a little shift hard to port or starboard in a vain attempt to evade. The alarm sounds of collideing ships and the traject attemot to rescue all survivors. What a shame that only the whalers were able to be saved
There’s a lot of this going around these days.
Well, you can guess what I am saying…
I totally and completely support Sea Shepard. Totally. Paul Watson is a great man. GREAT. They are the right ones, they are the noble ones. If you read further into their cause, you would see this too.
Thank you graysonret, I wonder where the candidates stand… the possibilities are endless. Hmmmm.
Soliel:
Please explain to us how a whale is anymore worthy of being saved than a cow, fish, sheep, etc.
Then after that, please explain why it is justified to risk injuring or killing a man for the sake of an animal.
Cows and whales?
Humpback whales are an endangered species. How about cows and chickens?
Humpacks got that way because they have been hunted to near extinction in the past.
Apparently it’s not quite as easy to rebuild the stock of whales, as you go about slaughtering them.
shanimal:
They are actually considered vunerable, not endangered, further they have rebounded to near pre-hunting levels in many places.
But so what? The Japanese going after one and two here and there is not going to do anything.
Furthermore, so what again? Why is it so important to protect species from dying out? If other animals caused the death of another species by hunting them, who would care?
99% of the species of life that ever walked the face of the Earth are now extinct.
Why is protecting some whale worth risking the life of a man?
Let’s even say I agree that hunting whales is bad. Is killing a man worse?
Someone already posted earlier that they didn’t like whaling, but that this is not the way to stop it.
You people that support the terrorists can say whatever you like about the whales themselves, and you may be right.
That does not mean any idiot is right to throw acid at people.
When the whalers decide to defend themselves, and they will, your pitiful band of merry pirates will find out how cold the antarctic ocean can be.
These people should be shot while attacking ships in international waters. This is close to terrorism. Enough of this foolishness with these people. Protest and petition for redress are their non-violent options.
Do they make paintballs that big in rainbow colors? Might as well customize their boat at the same time.
Nonsense!! Perhaps it’s not the way to handle it, but the Japanese do NOT NEED to hunt and kill whales. As far as I’m concerned, if this is the only way to stop this, then go to it “enviro-thugs”.
jeanie:
When the enviro-freaks “accidently” kill Mr. Yakamoto; who is struggling to feed Mrs. Yakamoto and little Akira and Suki; are you gonna tell them he shouldn’t have been killing whales, or should I?
Mr. Yakamoto should have set a better example for the Missus and kids and found humane employment. I’m sure there is some.
jeanie:
All the jobs at Willy Wonka’s were taken. Mr. Yakamoto lives in the real world where a man’s life is worth more than a whale’s.
Here’s a little realism about the enviro’s and the endagered species act, along with the leader, organizer of Sea Shepherd Conservation Societ.
language warning if you’ve never heard Penn before…send the kids in the other room. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MWrKW-A0ec&feature=relatedangered species.
And this is how liberals justify violence. The end justifies the means. No one needs to live in a million plus dollar home either. So the ELF must be justified in burning all those houses to the ground. And no one with few exceptions really needs an SUV, so valdalism to people’s SUV’s are OK. And no one needs a mink coat, so it is perfectly OK to toss blood on someone’s coat. And heck, no one needs all that jewelery or those expensive possessions that just sit in someone’s home, so it should be OK to break into their homes and relieve them of those unnecessary possessions. And come to think of it, we have too many people in this country, more than we really need. So why make it a crime to take the life of another human being?
Talk about slippery slopes. Just who defines what is really a “need”? Our Constitution recognized the concept of tyranny by the majority, and was written to protect people’s freedoms by tlisting those things the government could and could not do, adding that if permission was not written into the Constitution, the government could not act.
And when a group assumes the power to act as both the arbiter of what is good and the judge, jury and executioner, without due process, that is the very definition of tyranny.
Your freedom of expression does not protect causing harm, injury or damage to another person or their property. If there is such harm, under our laws you have committed an assault and battery or are guilty of a crime against property. In short, you have engaged in a criminal act.
I take it from your response that you support criminal conduct. Otherwise, why would you make such an idiotic statement?
Jim M., you should know better than to try to talk sense to the sensless. These people that support terrorism on the high seas aren’t going to be swayed by reason.
Same to you, zeroangel. How dare you try to suggestthat human beings have any right to feed our families.
Why, if it weren’t for us evil humans hunting the great whales to extinction, they would have landed on the moon in 1969 using guts and slide rules instead of us.
My word.
I’m not defending these jerks throwing acid, that is for sure. Like I said already, this isn’t the way to protest the whaling.
The real question is, who told Japan that they own all oceans covering the earth?
They do the same thing with other species. In the 90’s a couple of Japanese ships were busted off of Europe, chock full of illegally caught bluefin tuna. Hundreds of tons of tuna. They didn’t even get a slap in the wrist.
Why is it that every country in the world doesn’t hunt Humpback Whales, except for Japan? It’s not a whale here and there, it’s 1,000 whales just this season alone. For research? Yeah, right.
shanimal:
So…what? They are whales.
Who says every other country that doesn’t want to hunt whales owns the oceans?
As for the tuna, different topic entirely. Further, one antecdote about tuna doesn’t make your case.
1, 2, 500, 1000, point is, it isn’t going to extinct the humpbacks. They purposely limit their hunting to avoid that (they don’t want them extinct anyways, there wouldn’t be any left to hunt).
Anyways, SHoward, you are right… mah bad.
Pass the whale meat pls.
shanimal,
After reviewing the htread, I see it was you that made the statement I refernced before. And I agree, this is no way to stop it.
Here’s a resonable suggestion:
If the Japanese are breaking the law, there are courts. If the terrorists can get tracking devices abord the whaling vessels without their knowledge, they can probably help build a pretty good case.
I have heard, although I do not know for certain, that it is difficult to apply the laws governing whaling. If that is the case, make it in front of the UN.
As much as I dislike the UN, they are the body to go to. As I said, the pirates should concentrate on making a case instead of making a**es out of themselves. Given their actions, I certainly cannot give their cause any sympathy, because I have no reason to believe anything they say at present.
Actually Australia and New Zealand went after Japan via the LOST (INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE LAW OF THE SEA) back in the 80’s or 90’s (tuna not whales).
I’m pretty sure that Japan was found to be in the wrong and forced to do nothing, no real penalties. I’m with Michelle when she says this LOST (perfect name) is a bad idea and we have to make sure it never gets approved in this country!
I’m right there with you on the LOST thing, shanimal.
Shanimal / SHoward:
OK wait, I’m confused. Just so we are clear:
I do not support some kind of law of the sea that says Japan can’t hunt whales, as long as they leave enough for other nations that may want to hunt them.
You guys think hunting whales is wrong, and you think Japan should be accountable, but you DON’T suport something like LOST? Or you think LOST didn’t do enough?
I say let them hunt. They are whales. In any case, international “laws” aren’t really quite laws. How will the UN enforce these laws? Are we going to see the vessels of some nations under the authority of the UN threatening Japanese ships with force unless they comply? I’m not sure I like that either.
I think we all agree though, the enviro-nutz are in the wrong any way you slice this.
Killing whales is thuggery, tossing old butter in response is fine by me.
Sanctity of other intelligent life on this planet is nonexistent here?
As for legal action, it’s been tried: the whaling countries pretend their whaling is scientific, we all know that is a sham, so what else can people who value the lives of these creatures do?
“Intelligent” is a subjective term. Where do we stop? It is nature for organisms to prey on one another. Humans are not herbivores. I am comfortable with the idea that Mr. Yakamoto can help feed Suki and Akira by preying on a lesser species. In fact if killing some whale just happens to mean Mr. Yakamoto can afford a new computer so Suki can surf wikipedia, I am OK with that too. It’s a whale.
Maybe in 10000 yrs when whales develop written language perhaps we can have another look at that idea. Until that time, pass the whale meat.
zeroangel,
Let me be absloutely clear:
I do not care if the Japanese hunt whales. They are fair game just like any other lower species we rely on for survival.
My recommendation in post #62 was not intended as the solution I am in favor of, just a more reasonable approach than open terrorism. i.e. if these nutjobs are so clean and pure as the wind-driven snow they should be making their case in front of some kind of governing body, not throwing acid at people.
As for LOST, or anything else the UN wants, I am absolutely against our participation. We’d give up too much for what little we might gain.
Shanimal and I agree that the terror tactics used are not acceptable. We disagree on whether or not whales are fair game. I say they are.
As for your last paragraph, refer to my last paragraph in post #59. Whales didn’t land on the moon, we did.
You don’t go after the whaleboats if you’re against whaling. That serves no real purpose except to get your “cause” in the news. The right way is to remove the market. If alternative ways to meet market demand are found, you have no more whaleboats. It becomes unprofitable. The U.S. was a big whaling nation once. The market dried up, when other products met the needs of the consumers. Our fleet didn’t die out because of environmentalists throwing rotten butter at it.
Zeroangel, if you think these creatures can write given their physical and environmental limitations, your intelligence must be questioned. Who knows what the large brains of whales can do, and what the beautiful songs of the whales might mean?
Perhaps an intelligent alien species may come here and decide a species as needlessly destructive and short-sighted as ours may be unintelligent and should be used as food.
@70
Mate, you need to stop watching Star Trek.
You need to define intelligence. All animals exhibit intelligence. Hell, even plants exhibit intelligence how they respond to light, temperature, etc.
So where and how do you draw the line? At creatures that give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside? By the stance you take, you should just off yourself as you will inevitably need to eat and thus consume an intelligent living creature.
green(blooded, in-human)Libertarian:
Oh for goodness sake.
I didn’t LITERALLY mean write, if you didn’t get that, maybe its not my intelligence that we should be questioning.
Anyways refer to #71 and let me restate my position a bit clearer for you.
Until we come up with the Star Trek device that enables us to send some sound signals into the water that say (in whale):
“Hey there? Hows it going down there?”
and the whales reply (and we understand):
“Well, not great, you see my buddies and I are banging our heads against an iceberg trying to figure out how to work out the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter. We know its between 3.1 and 3.2, but we can’t nail it down exactly. Oh yah, that and please stop eating us.”
…then I say they are fair game.
You see, I KNOW that Suki and Akira are intelligent. So, if Mr. Yakamoto hunts Shamu so that Mr. Fujiyama can pay a whole bunch of cash to eat Shamu in a nice fancy Japanese resturant, that means that Mr. Yakamoto and all his pals are going to make money.
In turn that means that Akira and Suki (and a whole bunch of others) get well fed and taken care of. Then maybe Suki can go to a nice school in Tokyo and learn all about Pi, (thats 3.14159… not the kind you eat) linear algebra, and Voltaire. That might even mean something equally nice for Akira, and maybe he won’t end up having to freeze his a** off in Antartica hunting whales so he can feed his future family. You see, Suki and Akira’s lives and well-beings are many, many times more important than Shamu in my eyes.
Yes, and if we are lucky, by that time we will have developed Phasers and Photon torpedos and maybe Akira and Suki helped build Voltron. You need to watch less TV.
Are you a vegatarian? If not, then your arguement is intellectually dishonest. If you are, then good luck with that, I’m going to have an extra cheeseburger on your behalf. Mr Fujiyama will have an extra helping of dead Shamu for you.
SHoward: ahh ok, then seems we are in complete agreement, excellent.
Japan seems to think that every country gets to own the water up to maybe 200 miles off the coast. Everything else belongs to Japan.
The problem with LOST (imo) is that it has set rules, but no enforcement. Japan knows this, and knows they can do whatever they want. If the whaling issue is about feeding people, why do they lie and claim it is for scientific research?
So, if the established legal process yields a result deemed unsatisfactory by whomever, then one is free to resort to criminal acts?
Just for our edification, what do you think of hunters?
Shanimal:
If Japan was hunting whales to extinction I’d see it your way re: thinking they own the oceans. They aren’t and I don’t.
Who will enforce LOST rules? What navy or navies from what countries? How long do you think it will be before some despot tries to turn LOST on its head and attack the US with it?
They say its for scientific research for the same reason the enviro-loons call what they do “Non-violent means.” Sadly, the rest of the world is culturally biased against Japan because whales are thought to be “intelligent.” So, Japan has to use euphamisms so Akira and Suki get a chance to live in a nice apartment and have plenty of rice and sushi to eat.
I see the name of the terrorist’s ship is the “Steve Irwin.” I wonder, not really knowing, would Irwin have condoned this and their other tactics? Anybody know?
pgtips,
That was a great response. Star Trek IV was just on the other day, too. I cought it from the beginning for a change. Funny movie.
You also have a great point about the “line” at which intelligence begins. The fact is that many of these nutjobs, like the terrorists, believe we are the problem and there is no justification for anything we do. Everything on earth has the same rights as us, in their pea-sized brains.
Apparently, we are supposed to just lay down and die. They’ve as much as said the earth, I mean “gaia,” would be better off if we did. They know this how?
An afterthought:
If I start with the enviro-nut idea that many sentient animals like cows / whales / sheep / lions / tigers / antelopes are somehow on equal footing with humans I run into a nifty little paradox:
Having been a soldier and understanding that sometimes it is the right thing to do to kill evil people that wantonly kill other people I am now faced with the following:
Should I be killing the heartless and cruel lions to protect the innocent antelope from being preyed upon?
Should I be rounding up all lions and forcing them to become vegans?
However, isn’t this contrary to nature? Shouldn’t I respect the lion’s right to survive? Why are humans considered seperate from nature and “against it?”
Why is the fact of our advanced and evolved intelleigence NOT a part of nature?
Why does a lion get a pass for killing other animals and humans don’t?
Finally, I concur, good points pgtips.
Star Trek IV was funny, even though it was a bit silly (concerning the whales).